I blast the Zain down in Africa: Strider | NES Works 134

[@Athesies]

I legit forgot this was a strider video at some point during the first 10 minutes lol. I really love the history you give around the games you cover, it's consistently very entertaining

[@Randhrick]

I came to post this exactly lol I was listening the video and at one point I double checked to make sure I did not clicked on the wrong video.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

Agreed. I love that one of the ways to research history is researching pop-culture and the world around it..!

[@fazares]

lol...way to go bloating your video indeed..but interesting nonetheless!

[@apollosungod2819]

it makes sense why when you see the whole picture.

[@Athesies]

@fazares I really wouldn't call it bloating the video. This is just what the video works series is about, it goes into things other review channels might just glance over or not acknowledge at all

[@Bushidounohana]

Chef’s kiss for the extensive research, exquisite presentation, and exceptional immersion elicited in this one. I was taken back to 1981 in all the right and wrong ways, thanks for Stridering your way through this one and threading the needle for some of your most incredible journalism to date on this channel (amongst your already high bar of quality!) Your work stands as a spellbinding reminder of the global context in which these titles emerged, always so accurately surrounding me in the original moments when they debuted.

[@jasonx1580]

I alway somehow knew Reagan was to blame for the NES version of Strider. Thank you for confirming my suspicions.

[@dannybursace9151]

Haha 🤣

[@zooropa04]

It's amazing just how many things Reagan can be blamed for....

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

It's almost as if he's the closest thing the US had to Thatcher, and ruined bloody everything.

[@RogerPyoko]

My favorite thing about Strider's failure to launch a multimedia franchise in any country was the comment the NES version's composer, Harumi Fujita, said of it in an interview: "When I finished working on Strider, I was told by the sales department that the game would only be released outside of Japan; I was so unfamiliar with the world outside Japan that I had thought Strider was being sent to die."

[@RogerPyoko]

@@katherineberger6329 She.

[@GarrettCRW]

A minor correction about Sunbow: it was the animation arm of Hasbro’s advertising agency, Griffin-Bacal. Since Sunbow’s only prior experience was localizing the first two seasons of Star Blazers (as Sun Wagon) and The Great Space Coaster, they partnered with Marvel’s new animation studio, which was reconstituted from DePatie-Freleng (who had tasked a staff animator named Nelson Shin to animate the lightsabers for the first Star Wars movie), to handle storyboards, character designs, and animation (which was mostly outsourced to Toei and Shin’s studio, AKOM). Sunbow handled the writing for most shows, which was well enough since Sunbow hired Steve Gerber while he was actively engaged in legal action against Marvel Comics (and there was quite a bit of animosity between many on the Sunbow staff and Larry Hama in those days, as well).

[@jayesun3420]

Wow, thanks for that, that filled in a few knowledge holes I had.

[@JohnPannozzi]

Yeah, Marvel Productions (created when Marvel Comics joined forces with David DePatie of the aforementioned DePatie-Freleng company) is the company Jeremy meant, not Sunbow (who collaborated with Marvel Productions in multiple projects, many of which based on Hasbro properties).

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

The Great Space Coaster was kind of dope. I was a huge Gary Gnu fan.

[@DefendYoungstown]

​@@tommylakindasorta3068I read about Gary in my local Gnu-wspaper!

[@pabulum28]

I love all the titles that you present for your videos here and thanks for all the hard work. "Gonna use some points to do the Tricks we ne-ver haaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaad, Ooh..." (Just finishing Hiryu's chorus for "Africa")

[@RabbitEarsCh]

Good on you for finding footage of the New Anime Century Declaration, that stuff's rare. If even one person now knows about the event that fundamentally transformed Japanese anime culture in the same way that Amok Time did for us over here for sci-fi, it'll be worth it.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Kyoto Video also talked about it in depth semi-recently, in his retrospective on "Otaku no Video."

[@ExxyPlays]

To this day, I have cognitive dissonance I can't resolve from reading Jeff Rovin's How to Win at Nintendo Games books before actually playing any of the games. He made them sound INCREDIBLY cool. Especially Strider. So my first reaction in seeing this title was "Whoa, Strider is awesome!" and then it took about 10 seconds before my brain caught up and was like "No, no, don't try and go play Strider. Just enjoy the false memories."

[@rootbeer_666]

Jeff Rovin… a name I haven’t thought about in decades. If I remember correctly the grades he gave it, he _didn’t_ believe that Mega Man 2 improved on the original in every way, as reality itself would so clearly and objectively demonstrate. What a weird guy. Now I kinda want to find those books again, if only to have a look at what a time capsule they are.

[@Phroggster]

Ending this video with the G.H.W. Bush dinner with Kiichi Miyazawa clip is absolutely brutal. Your writing is impeccable, as is your acting. I'm just sad that this game was ever released in that state, and feel bad for those poor kids that unwrapped this instead of DuckTales on Christmas morning, 1989.

[@dannybursace9151]

Let’s go Brandon

[@brianc277]

Ya know, I did get this for christmas as a 7 year old and I don't have bad memories of it. But I've also realized watching this video that this is a rare childhood game I remember enjoying that I've never thought about revisiting as an adult (I literally just finished up a replay of another game from not too long after this time period, Final Fantasy Legend 2 and as basic as it was I kinda already wanna replay it again with a different party set up). Do I dare fire it up and possibly sour my old memories of liking it for the chance that it'll have charm that certain games have "because" of the jank?

[@TonyGearSolid]

I read somewhere that the US release of Stryder was a hastily cleaned up version of the cancelled Famicom release, so it's incredible to think that the game was somehow worse before Capcom dumped it on US players.

[@BasementBrothers]

I imagine all they did was translate it, and then none of the original programmers were available with the know-how to fix the bugs.

[@angelriverasantana7755]

It was like Moero!! Pro Yakyuu again. The US got a clean-up of the Japanese original fuck-up

[@Bargadiel]

The level of care and research you put into your videos is as always, stellar.

[@baardbi]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the research you put into these episodes. Thank you for yet another amazing video.

[@SonofMrPeanut]

One bit of context worth addressing RE: Lucas & merchandising rights (though understandably a bit of a jump outside of the scope of this video). In the prior couple of decades, with newly suburbia-dwelling families opting to stay at home for TV rather than trek out to the theater, one of the ways the movie industry aimed to bring them in and build prestige was with the roadshow release of historical epics and movie musicals. While being a sort of parallel to the modern early limited release, this was treated more like a night at the live stage theatre, with people dressing up, a longer cut of the movie complete w/ intermission (which Monty Python & the Holy Grail later parodied) and tie-in merchandise for sale in the lobby. Despite it being on the way out in the early-'60s, key releases in '64 gave the industry false confidence in this model. 1967's Doctor Dolittle received a ludicrous amount of merchandise that didn't sell, not only being a harbinger of the end of epics/lavish musicals/roadshows but also marking the moment when the tie-in merchandising bubble burst. Until Star Wars came along, studios were wary when it came to that revenue stream, which is how George was so easily able to obtain it when securing his deal w/ 20th-Century FOX.

[@mjrleaguesweetie]

There have been so many articles and videos over the years about how the NES version of Strider was such an absolute steamer but I remember loving it as a kid

[@WillSams]

I think many of us have fond memories of it. My 12 year old brain excused the glitches and just had fun.

[@qwertzy121212]

it's a good game, it's a shame about how it also sucks

[@ungenesis9]

That I have the same memories about the NES version really speaks to the strength of Hiryu's design. That guy was just so damn cool that I remember even desperately begging my parents for the Tiger handheld Strider, and instantly solidified Marvel VS Capcom as my favorite 90s 2d fighter.

[@SeanRI]

It's worth pointing out that the GI Joe comic that started with Marvel is still going on with the same continuity under a new publisher and is still being written by Larry Hama.

[@JeremyParish]

It is, but much respect as I have for Hama, I haven't found much to enjoy in his latter-day Joe material.

[@savagedregime8176]

I have no emotional connection to GI Joe whatsoever, but I've seen bit and pieces of the old comic books and the writing is way better than I ever anticipated. Then I found out about Hama and his past as a Vietnam veteran and also actor on MASH. Incredibly fascinating stuff.

[@zachadams4310]

Loved this video. I think i said on Twitter when this game came up on MV Works "I love everything about the NES Strider except the experience of playing it." For all its shoddy design and programming and localization, I loved it when i was 12 because my dumb kid brain filled in all the gaps and convinced me it was revolutionary. I told everyone i possibly could "but when you get a password, it gives you a next episode preview! Ninja Gaiden doesn't do that!" Beat it probably 8-9 times, somehow. Much as i love the High Voltage game, i was bummed that they used Meio instead of trying to make the NES/manga story more competent. Also, that effect in your intro was fantastic.

[@Obscusion2]

Strider is also likely the reason why Capcom made multiple games based on the failed early 80s Shonen Jump manga Tenchi wo Kurau, with the best known one being 1992's Warriors of Fate, a.k.a. Tenchi wo Kurau 2, for CPS-2. Moto Kikaku, now going under the name Thirdline, is the studio owned & operated by mangaka Hiroshi Motomiya, who created Jump's first hit manga, 1968's Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho, & would later make Salaryman Kintaro in the 90s; he was also a major inspiration for the likes of Masami Kurumada & Tetsuo Hara. In fact, Motomiya is still making manga to this very day in his "old school Showa style", as Jeremy put it. By helping conceive of Strider, Hiroshi Motomiya likely requested that Capcom also adapt one of his own works, and I guess the Three Kingdoms-based Tenchi wo Kurau made the most sense when it came to creating multiple games of varying genres, since the NES games were grand strategy titles, while the arcade games were beat-em-ups.

[@MaidenHell1977]

Absolutely stunning video. It's incredible how much I learn from this channel. As kids we sort of knew that Strider was kinda broken control-wise, but we played through it. I don't know if it was because the Capcom or if we just genuinely thought it was a decent game, especially riding on the cost tails of the Genesis port of the arcade. One thing is for sure, the Nintendo Power poster of Strider is one of the best in the entire magazine's print run and I have it proudly displayed in my game room.

[@KappyKapstetter]

The FTC was a part of it, but if you're talking about the cartoons-as-ads phenomenon, that's really the FCC's baby. Television stations are FCC licensees, giving the agency the power to prescribe both technical and (limited) content-based regulations;; aside from that, FTC jurisdiction over television is extremely limited by virtue of statutory carve-outs in the Federal Trade Act. Encourage you to look into Mark Fowler's long tenure as FCC Chairman under Reagan and his various encounters with groups like Action for Children's Television - the deregulatory flow from the 70s to the mid-80s is a fascinating tale.

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, I realized too late the I should have included the FCC's 1984 overhaul of TV as the second part of that process… guess I should edit it in. Ugh.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

That was an interesting digression about 1980s commercialization of IP. Pole Positon's cartoon theme song is a real jam. Strider for arcade and Genesis are bangers, even with an obvious Palpatine villain that you'd expect to yell "Full Power" and Strider 2 is also pretty damn good. Strider for NES is as said, a hot mess. At least it looks forward to DuckTales which does do what Strider tried to do. And I love the bilingual pun on Nobunaga's Ambition.

[@MichaelHeide]

The proto-Metroidvania approach of individual levels spread all over the world, with a simple lock-and-key mechanic that limits your progress to a linear path anyway, reminds me a lot of Sega's (much more polished) Quackshot starring Donald Duck. That was more fun to play though.

[@digamejh]

1:34 You hear that, DT?!

[@SEGAClownboss]

I never expected to hear that Strider had all this development lore. Good grief.

[@rootbeer_666]

Yeah, I’d read about it a while back. I really wish the NES version wasn’t so janky, I really loved the concept and Hiryu was rad as hell, coulda been a long-lasting Capcom franchise

[@VolumeZombie]

Great video! I very much appreciate the way you weaved the arcade Strider voice lines into this script. This was also a great walk down memory lane. Arcade Strider was my friend's dad's favorite game, and while he wasn't as keen on the NES Strider, I've always had a soft spot for both. Yes, NES Strider is a bit janky, but it has a level of ambition that I find charming, despite all the... everything.

[@Mansini77]

Oh yeah, Stryder. The game that wasn’t Bionic Commanfo.

[@PerfectAgent]

More like Bionic Commanfaux

[@zombiegeorge749]

I loved Strider as a child. I didn't realize tell much later that there was an arcade counterpart. I felt a bit betrayed when, as a teen, I saw the glory of the coin-op version. The wall jumping was maddening. I paused the game after many failed attempts and watched TV until I calmed down enough to try again.

[@MrERLoner]

You blast the WHAT down in Africa?!? I cant Hiryu

[@JeremyParish]

Very good… you may stay

[@OPLOmega]

After months of binging (and being distracted), I'm finally all caught up on Video Works! Gotta say, I legit learned a whole lot from these videos. ...Now to sit and wait for the weekly uploads.

[@juanrosario5842]

I see what you did there with that catchy classic Toto song, and my brain even sing it 🤣😂😹 Thank you sharing this Video Works gem, I had the honor to play both Arcade and Nes back in 1990 and then my neighbor brought his Sega Genesis and had the chance to see Strider there as well! Cheers! 🍻🍻🍺

[@TheRickHoward]

I remember having fond memories of strider, when I revisited it 10 years after its release, I quickly recognized all its flaws and realized maybe it wasnt as good as I thought. Still the sounds and music have that nostalgic feel.

[@Davidka_I]

Again Jeremy, amazing research. Thanks so much. My friends and I loved this game when we were kids due to the sheer bada$$ness of the main character. We pretended the control problems didn't exist. Hearing the backstory regarding the proto-multimedia tie in, the fact the completed manga never made it to the US and the fact the game was such a game control mess says a lot about Capcom's respect for their customers, at least in this case. Was there no real quality control at that time? Megaman II's controls were (and are) just amazing. Back then, were games made from scratch, without reusing physics or other gameplay elements from old games? It seems like there are some good bones with Strider, but the way it was all finally put together did not live up to the potential (megaman II type controls, other properties with comic and arcade game tie-ins, etc.) Thanks for your analysis. These are always a treat to watch.

[@jbanks979]

Fascinating look back as per usual, as I had no idea this was an attempt to corporate synergize a new IP all at one time. (I just assumed there was an already existing cartoon/etc.) It’s kind of the opposite of ninja Gaiden where the arcade machine is “fine”, slow, kind of broken and the NES game is a genre defining masterpiece. I never had NES Strider, but it’s kind of surprising this was such a swing and a miss given the otherwise hall of fame batting average capcom was capable of at this time

[@Scarybug]

I get so frustrated when people who don't work in the industry ask questions like "how could this developer make such a bad game after making such a good game?" When the answer is usually "different teams worked on them" so I'm appreciative that you explain that here. Often also the "bad" product was set up to fail because the studio execs put more resources and experienced devs into the "good" product.

[@WalrusFPGA]

This was fantastic. Who would imagine that the best Strider video would be on the NES version? Thanks as always for the entertainment and education Mr. Parish!

[@willmakesfilms]

Great video. Your mini-documetaries are fantastic.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

I watched the Displaced Gamers Strider video when it came out and it made me shake my head at how badly Capcom botched it. It's also very disappointing that they didn't keep the epic, anthemic musical style of the arcade game.

[@JeremyParish]

Weird fact: The composer of the Bionic Commando arcade game wrote the music for Strider on NES, and the composer of Bionic Commando for NES wrote the music for arcade Strider.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

@@JeremyParish That is, in fact, rather weird.

[@jayesun3420]

Well I don't think his Strider soundtrack was as good as Bionic Commando's ST. Still a pretty good ST nonetheless.

[@JeremyParish]

Her, not his! Both composers were women: Harumi Fujita and Manami Matsumae.

[@NickSayre]

Absolutely no reason to go this hard. I love it! Thanks Jeremy!

[@sanyr80]

Enjoyed the Honey I Shrunk the Kids callback at the beginning. That whole bit with the ant gave me nightmares as a kid.

[@zooropa04]

I always love your historical context. Bravo.

[@ILjXYZ]

I remember watching my cousin play Strider on the Genesis and being blown away by it. I didn't have a Genesis, and when I rented this I was profoundly disappointed.

[@RemnantCult]

For me, your best videos are ones with great descriptions of context for whatever game or games you're talking about. Video games are not made in a vacuum for sure.

[@atomicnoexcept]

Your writing is just impeccable. ❤

[@EvilCoffeeInc]

My favourite videos are the ones with historical context, this was great. And it's cool to see Displaced Gamers show up here too, he's been putting out fire for years.

[@hazy33]

Reagan also got rid of balance in News programming. Which is where we find the USA now, an almost literal battleground.

[@SwiftJustice]

Bill _f'ing_ Barr was a part of that.

[@balaam_7087]

I could go on and on about the amount of research and the hard work and good scriptwriting to produce these videos, but to me the icing on the cake is always the video names. Today’s is particularly satisfying 😅

[@Sixfortyfive]

Anyone who hasn't watched Displaced Gamers' technical breakdown of this game should go look it up, then binge the channel. Lots of good insight there on why cryptic game mechanics work the way that they do, laid out in such a way that a layman can follow.

[@smedlings]

Is this the first instance of a video game featuring Kazakhstan as a playable area?

[@rottenparts]

That Nintendo Power spread is what really convinced me to want this game, but I didn't end up getting it until the early 2010"s. As such, I have dual nostalgia for both the original NP coverage as well as for playing through the game 10 years ago.

[@fangjokerLS]

Strider Hiryu was a cool enough character to where I worked hard as I could to finish the janky mess of a game. The basic concept is awesome, but the execution is diabolical. I still love the character and I like the weird "central Asian" milieu of this game and it's brother from another mother, Cannon Dancer.

[@joshthefunkdoc]

the phrase "hidden gem" is so tired in retrogaming anymore but Osman really is one, hi5

[@rootbeer_666]

That’s exactly how I felt about it. Hiryu was cool as hell, as was the concept, but christ what a jank-addled Hindenburg of an execution. I really wish the NES game had been better and the multimedia campaign successful so that Strider could have had the same time-tested recognition Mega Man enjoyed. What a waste of potential.

[@pawooten]

The Strider reboot had a PS3 Japan exclusive physical release

[@JeremyParish]

A thing like that.

[@MrTableDesk]

I understand all the points that you've made, but I still really like NES Strider. The triangle jumping was frustrating, but I just found the rest of it really cool.

[@BossDD3]

I hope you one day capture the history of prog rock with the quality you're able to capture world events and video game history. I know you got it in you!

[@DefendYoungstown]

I like things like this, because it adds additional context to childhood experiences. Here, I labored under the delusion that the NES game was just a subpar port of a cool arcade. I thought he would make a cool toy that kinda would look like something between COPS (in particular, Officer Hardtop) and Fist of the North Star. I thought this was a cool thing that could have possibly been a cool cartoon, or maybe WAS a cartoon "overseas". I had no clue about the manga... or even the concept of what manga was as opposed to western comics. In a sense, I was part of the *perfect* audience for the end point of the unachieved ambition. It's just their idea of essentially working backwards made it seem - at least to folks like me - that we had "missed out" on events leading to, say, the arcade, as opposed to the context not existing and the people working in the project(s) thinking it would LEAD TO those missing things. I don't know: I feel like I could have explained that better. Maybe if this post catches on, I'll make it a web comic. Then use one panel from that comic as a meme. Then the meme will just unilaterally go viral and I will sell tshirts and novelty items about it! It'll be huge...!

[@ThomasMHead]

First off: thanks for the ten minute recap of why the 80s was a great time to be a kid! Holy smokes, what an odyssey! Strider in the arcade, to this day, has stuck in my mind as "Cool as hell!!" Like playing a stylish, fast-paced, OTT sci-fi action movie! There was no way the NES could match that; so I'd assumed the home version was going the route of games like Rygar and Simon's Quest. That game is infuriatingly janky; yet what it tried to present was a compelling and formative part of my middle school years. I only learned about the manga around a decade ago, and was under the impression that the games were licensed from that. Today, I come to learn that the manga was made for the game--AND that NES Strider never released in Japan!? Plot twists worthy of that game!

[@jessebaker2769]

Jeremy's got some details wrong: Akira got colorized and flipped by permission of the manga's creator (who also used the US manga release to redo and remaster the artwork for huge chunks of the manga for Akira) and the entire project was given HIGH LEVEL priority at Marvel; to the point that they kept the Epic imprint alive solely so they could finish publishing Akira. The US version of Akira is considered the definitive version of the manga and while it's Japanese publisher won't allow the colorized version to be licensed out, the colorized version remains the preferred method of reading Akira and issues of the US adaptation (especially the last 5-6 issues) go for big bucks.

[@tranwc]

I ❤ Strider on the NES. I never played the arcade version. I may still own the original NES cartridge. Keep up the great work! 👍🏽

[@MrClawt]

Displaced Gamers has a really really detailed deep dive on the code for the triangle jump.

[@JeremyParish]

I'll be sure to mention it in my video

[@Triknor]

I enjoyed that arguably necessary rabbit hole. It does provide good context for why Strider always felt like part of a larger whole taken out of context.

[@billcook4768]

Side note: If anyone wants to own a physical copy of this game, I highly recommend the Capcom mini collection for GBA. This, NES Bionic Commando and the impossible to own otherwise Mighty Final Fight.

[@goldenage]

I actually liked Strider on NES and was an official Capcom fan by the time it hit shelves. It contained some metroidvania world exploration. Perfect for a weekend video game rental back in the 80s. And im not hard on the wall jump since it was one of the earlier games to have one. Strider 2 is my personal favorite.

[@MarginalSC]

Watching a current day speedrun of this game is truly eye opening.

[@MAYOFORCE]

This is a pretty eye opening episode. Last time I talked about the Strider series to some friends one of them noted that it was crazy how the 2014 reboot was brought back because they heard the original game was based off a manga. There was a lot of reoccuring characters that seem to have more behind them than than what's shown in all three games I know about, they also repeat a lot of the same sequences and concepts, so the idea that they were licenced adaptations made logical sense. But it turns out the manga was more or less an advertisement to the arcade game. Also, I can't get over the fact the main villain's name is pronounced the same as my online pen name Mayo.

[@pennsworth996]

NES Bev and Bobbing a Toto classic.

[@formerfatboy90]

The Strider review was great, but putting the game in the context of Reagan’s policies was a stroke of genius. This is legitimately your best video yet.

[@rodneylives]

Ah, footage from the Bugtte Honey anime! This is nearly the only place I've seen anyone refer to it other than me! It's a bit like an early version of Captain N! I've seen the first episode and bits from later in the series. It's weird to see early Hudson NES games, including Lode Runner, in anime form. Did Broderbund know about this?

[@barrymaaslow3480]

Ahhhhh....What a game. I remember the futuristic vibe of this obtuse game so vividly. I DESPERATELY wanted this game as a kid because it just looked so damn cool but, as you've explained, it was incredibly frustrating to play. But honestly, I didn't care THAT much as a kid; I still finished it and was actually pretty consistent with the tri jump. I was more bummed out that the bosses were so underwhelming ;)

[@alessandrobaggi6129]

22:15 Strider borrowed that wall-computer directly from Scrooge McDuck 🤣 Or maybe the contrary... 😁

[@daveloomis]

I own this game. Pretty sure it was a hand-me-down or we got it from a bargain bin. As a 10-12 year it was compelling as HECK, but the glitches and elided story made it impossible to beat. We had a sense that there was something going on beyond what was shown but could never get past the presentation. Thanks for bringing some closure decades later!

[@low_e_music]

Despite the physics / controls, I still absolutely love this game and play through it at least a few times a year. It always takes me a few minutes to acclimate to the controls but then they don't bother me at all. Would love to hear a Vomitron cover of the soundtrack on one of his albums.

[@michaelturner2806]

I keep forgetting that Strider had any story at all and every time I have to suppress my assumption that it's named Strider for the really goofy way he strides with his knees up so high, what was up with that.

[@Loader2K1]

I could be wrong, but I believe the game's character designer and animator were trying to emulate the stylish "ninja running" from anime/manga with Strider Hiryu in the NES game, but just couldn't get it to look right. Personally, I always looked at Strider Hiryu's movement as being a bizarre mixture of running and marching, LOL.

[@Stanislawluberda]

It keeps getting better!

[@broy8172]

None of that advertising bullshit for TMNT, GI Joe, Star Wars, etc. worked on me. Toys were cool, but a lot of it was in the mind's eye, which reading served better. I was very young, but I was already an independent, free-thinking Nintendo snob who felt like gaming was above toys, and I've grown into a responsible adult snob who feels like gaming is above everything except maybe books. Please ignore my salivating, it increases towards the beginning of a new month - around the time a new Nintendo Power would arrive...never quite kicked this darned conditioning!

[@broy8172]

I also happen to be sort of a fan of NES strider as a kid, i just thought Capcom must've made a game so advanced, I just couldn't play it. "because how could a shit game come from the guys who made Mega Man 2" - i invented a whole new reality to qualify Strider as awesome because of mega man 2. Since I was a well trained consumer, i read everything gaming related and probably saw the "buy Strider because Mega Man 2" ad and hopped right on board!

[@hsatin20]

Dang, I had no idea about the history of this game when I played it as a kid. Very interesting indeed.

[@JeffRivera]

The wall jumping was absolute frustrating madness. I rented the game a couple of times (after LOVING the arcade title), but I could never get over how bad the jumping was. I never did pick the game up until 15 years later at a garage sale.

[@UnderTheSkin13]

I haven't had as much fun playing videogames as I did back when I played Strider! And those were the Reagan years!

[@rurounikage]

I appreciate the humor sprinkled throughout as always, but the last joke got a right chuckle out of me... I wonder how many people will actually get the "Ya-boi Nobunaga" reference though. :D

[@Choralone422]

Back then I rented Mega Man 2 and absolutely loved every bit of it. Then I rented NES Strider and just couldn't get over just how broken it was. I could see there were the bones of a good NES game there, but it was just so janky I never did rent it again. It wasn't until shortly before the Genesis game was released that I ever knew about the awesome arcade game. I had no idea there was a manga or anything else related to Strider created until decades later. It's a real shame because with a fair amount of additional polish NES Strider could have been so much more.

[@DrFrankChibi]

The NES 'Strider' is actually my favorite in the series. I liked the exploration/adventure aspects.

[@SpiritOfBagheera]

Same.

[@alanelkins2408]

"This video has gone -three- 0 minutes without a Marvel reference"

[@AerikTitlesTitles]

Anybody interested in early Gundam, check out the excellent podcast Mobile Suit Breakdown!

[@cobrapanic]

Love the podcast. Been listening for nearly 2 years now, and their research is second to none on the wide array of topics they cover.

[@inkwolf77]

I didn't expect a video about Strider to kick off with Ronald Regan, but that's what separates Mr. Parish from the rest of the crowd. 👍

[@apierion]

I remember loving this game as a kid, warts and all. We were so sheltered back then

[@capitalistpigsa1]

I absolutely loved NES strider as a kid and didn't even notice the jank. But wow, when i played it as an adult i FELT that jank.

[@galacticnight05fan18]

Great 10 minute recap of the Reagan deregulation bonanza that shaped my generation’s childhood. I kept waiting for He-Man to show up and was surprised when that never came up.

[@NearLife4life]

You had me at the Toto reference!

[@FemboyCatGaming]

Good video but you are wrong that the Akira localization was done due to a lack of respect or care for manga. Otomo personally pushed for the localization changes and redid all of the art himself and the coloring was done using advanced computer software which paved the way for coloring advances in US comics and was unlike anything ever seen in the japanese comic market which impressed Otomo. He particularly liked how close it looked to the movie.

[@JeremyParish]

I didn’t say it was done that way out of lack of respect for the medium. I said that was the only way Marvel saw it as a viable product for the U.S. Not the same argument at all, and you really missed the point.

[@carlbessettejr.9412]

Something tells me that Capcom may have brought out Strider as a last minute replacement for Makai Island, a Pirate Ship Higemaru game they fully localised but never released. Being an Action-Adventure contemporary, Capcom may have gone All-in on the localising process. Perhaps it didn't pass for whatever reason, Capcom basically found themselves caught with their pants down, so they quickly patched up an, I would say, NEAR complete game.

[@kidfenris]

That's an interesting theory. Capcom could have released Titan Warriors, a complete but canceled 1988 shooter, if they really needed an NES game quick, but Strider definitely had more flash. Man, between Strider never coming out in Japan and Titan Warriors never coming out anywhere, Harumi Fujita had a rough few years.

[@mark6302]

I still have an opened box copy of Strider with the manual

[@joemccallister4883]

They are the toughest group of people who execute acts such as infiltration, abduction, explosion, instigation, etc. I think the Striders might be terrorists.

[@pairofrooks]

...who execute such acts as triangle jumping, landing on platforms, phasing through walls, etc., sometimes.

[@joemccallister4883]

@@katherineberger6329 Sad but true. There is no honor in war, unless you bring it with you.

[@larryb5677]

*gonna take a lot to make you jump off this wall* *a hundred button presses or more, and you still fall*

[@istrasci]

Jeremy, as a Japanese speaker, I really appreciate the effort you take to pronounce Japanese names and words properly. Other KZbinrs don't, and it usually drives me nuts.

[@JeremyParish]

What a bunch of bakas

[@istrasci]

@@JeremyParish 😄😄 That was really the only possible response.

[@PaulSoth]

I got too much in the way of apathy, cynicism, confusion, doubt and excessive bad online takes in my mind right now. Made that first part kind of rough. I miss my old self.

[@Unquestionable]

Strider was definitely a cooler concept than NES game. I remember seeing the arcade version as a kid and being blown away, when I rented the home version later I was just plan confused. I was used to Capcom titles having an interesting interpretation when ported but it was only kinda similar with the coolest parts of the original being cut out. That being said I still hold a soft spot in my heart for the franchise even if it's origins make it sort of a mess. Also happy it wasn't ever completely forgotten like so many Capcom series (still holding out hope for a new Magic Sword, Final Fight, Bionic Commando, Forgotten Worlds, and Cyberbots).

[@Wyrdwad]

So the funny thing is... I actually love this game. Like, it's probably in my top 20 favorite NES games. I fully acknowledge its flaws -- the game is an absolute mess, to be sure. But as a kid, it ENCHANTED me. I drew Strider comics based off of the story from it (or what I interpreted the story to be, anyway!). I fired up the game just to listen to its bangin' music. And I played the whole thing through, from beginning to end, multiple times over. The game may be clunky and feel like it's always about to fall apart, but it has one thing going for it that I think even the arcade/Genesis game doesn't, and that's MOOD. I prefer the NES Strider to the arcade/Genesis one, simply because it feels more like a spy thriller -- much as I've always preferred mysteries and plodding adventure movies to action flicks, I just found Strider NES to capture a bit more of that techno-ninja James Bond international espionage feel that the arcade/Genesis game just kind of... threw at you. Part of it was the nonlinear nature of Strider NES. I loved the sense of exploration, and spent hours just trying to find every little secret area I possibly could. I dunno... I can't really explain it. It's just that, as a kid, Strider NES simply enchanted me! It's probably my second-favorite Capcom game on the system, in fact, topped only by Willow -- and yes, I rank it over the Mega Man games! Nonlinearity and mood really make a HUGE difference to me -- it's why Goonies 2, Legacy of the Wizard, Faxanadu, Solstice, Zelda 2, and Castlevania 2 are easily my favorite games on the entire platform. Fun fact about NES Strider: when the prototype of the Famicom version leaked a few years back, I was fascinated watching footage of it being played, but nothing caught my attention more than the intro, because there was extra text in the intro that didn't exist at all in the NES version -- and it appeared at odd times, disappearing very quickly as well. Took me a few views to realize what it was: frigging LYRICS. The intro theme to NES Strider was supposed to have ACTUAL JPOP LYRICS, which were displayed on screen in the Famicom prototype as though you were listening to the song at karaoke or something, so you could sing along (which I did, very badly, and uploaded as a YT video on my channel, if anyone is interested!). Anyway, none of this is to say your review coverage here is anything but exemplary, as this game really is a mess on many, many levels. I'm glad you covered as much as you did, as the story of Strider is a fascinating one, and it really is a shame it didn't live up to its potential, as its potential was MASSIVE. I think some of the points you made may have been overly stressed, however. The triangle jump, for example, is a "central game mechanic," sure... but you only need to use it, what, maybe twice times in the entire game? Three times, tops? There are other places where you CAN use it, but I think it's only in Egypt where you're actually required to -- in every other spot, there are alternatives to triangle-jumping that'll get you to where you need to go, OR the area the triangle jump leads to is purely optional. So the fact that it's so difficult to perform... is unfortunate, but honestly not a deal-breaker, and not a cause of tremendous frustration since the game's levels simply weren't designed around it for the most part. But the NES game has also been very much superseded at this point by Double Helix's Strider 2014, as you pointed out -- a game that took what both the NES and arcade/Genesis games did well, and combined it together to create one of the best modern Metroidvanias IMHO. Game doesn't get nearly as much respect as it deserves, I feel, as it truly is a joy to play and one of a shockingly large number of absolutely EXCELLENT games to see release in 2014 -- honestly a banner year for games all around (I'd even go so far as to call it one of the best years for gaming in recent memory). Best game in the Strider series, and an absolute must-play for anyone who's ever loved any Strider title.

[@rootbeer_666]

Thirty-some years after the fact, I still know the password to get to the Red Dragon: DMCC BGCP CPOD Don’t ask me why, I still can’t figure that out

[@MrERLoner]

The one right before that.one..bjap.pean anob

[@BubblegumCrash332]

Thanks Regan for my lifelong love of Optimus Prime

[@ryanbeat5828]

I found that the triangle jump was easiest with the NES Advantage controller.

[@MiguelPaulettePerez-bj8ml]

To this day, I decorate my home with G.I. Joe, Ninja Turtles, and Star Wars toys from my deluded youth.... I am grateful for my wife, who also had a little brother.

[@BlakeNortondotcom]

Great video. One of your best, I feel. Much flow of thinking on display.

[@sneakyskunk1]

I had no idea that Reagan's de-regulation of children's entertainment had such a profound effect on Strider. Never in a million years would I have guessed that. I always had an idea (as a child) that we weren't getting the full picture with NES Strider's bare bones approach to story telling. It wasn't until the fans of the series started filling in the blanks via the internet that a more robust picture began to form. This video condenses all that information into one easily understood history lesson. Then again, I expect no less from this channel.